Nordi Mukiele returns to his roots
Having been born in Montreuil and played for Paris FC's youth teams, the capital club's newest defender is coming back to a region that he knows well. We take a look back at his journey.
On 1st November 1997, little Nordi came into the world in the town of Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. He soon fell in love with football and took his first few steps into the sport a few miles from home, at the Stade Déjérine, a ground located in the capital's 20th arrondissement, as he joined Paris FC. Starting at barely six years old, Mukiele played for PFC's various youth teams between 2004 and 2013 before being scouted by several other clubs. Stade Lavallois Mayenne FC eventually secured his signature, and the right-back was headed for the Pays de la Loire aged 15.
Stéphane Moreau, Laval's academy director at the time, remembers him. "He came and had a week-long trial. Well, it didn't last a week!" explained the current manager of... Paris Saint-Germain's U17 team, who was blown away by the player's quality, in an interview with Ouest-France. In his first season, Mukiele was part of the U19s' excellent run in the Coupe Gambardella, reaching the semi-finals, before playing his first few matches with the first team, who were in Ligue 2 at the time, the following season.
Repositioned in central defence, or even in defensive midfield, he became an U18 international (2 caps) then U19 (1 cap), signed his first professional contract in May 2015 and gradually settled into the national team, where he was coached by former Parisian striker Marco Simone (80 official matches and 32 goals between 1997 and 1999) in 2016. He played 39 matches in all competitions (2 goals), which drew the attention of the Montpellier Hérault SC scouts.
He then moved to the Occitanie region at the beginning of 2017, where he found his feet at right-back and also continued his career with the French national team by wearing the U20 jersey (6 caps) and then the U21 jersey (6 caps). After a full season and a half in Hérault and 56 official matches with La Paillade, Mukiele caught the eye of RB Leipzig's recruiters. He joined the German club in the summer of 2018, becoming in the process the biggest sale in the history of MHSC, and gradually settled into the heart of the German club's defence.
During his time on the other side of the Rhine, the player who was then wearing the number 22 made 144 appearances in all competitions (10 goals), debut in the UEFA Europa League and then the UEFA Champions League, where he reached the semi-finals in 2020 (losing 3-0 to Paris Saint-Germain), and even shook the nets at the Parc des Princes last season, the night of the Parisian victory in the group phase (3-2). His performances were noticed by France coach Didier Deschamps, who called him up last September, giving Mukiele his first opportunity to wear the blue jersey in a 2-0 win over Finland.
German Bundesliga runner-up in 2021, finalist of the German Cup in 2019 and 2021, Nordi concluded four years at RB by lifting the Pokal, the first trophy of his career, after a victory on penalties against SC Freiburg (1-1 a.p., 4 t.a.b. to 2), notably thanks to a goal by his compatriot trained at Paris Saint-Germain Christopher Nkunku (78 official matches and 11 goals between 2015 and 2019), last May.
The twenty-four-year-old native of Montreuil is making his return to France by committing himself to Paris Saint-Germain until 2027, returning to a region he knows by heart and a club he has crossed paths with on several occasions during his career, be it as an opponent or through the men who have made or are making its history.